In June 1941 Tatiana is a 17-year-old girl living with her family in Leningrad, just as Germany begins an invasion of the Soviet Union. A chance encounter at a bus stop seems like fate when she meets an army officer named Alexander and they both instantly sense an unearthly connection to each other. As Alexander helps her home with her groceries they both discover, to their horror, that Tatiana’s sister is Alexander’s girlfriend. Tatiana is unwilling to hurt her sister, but neither can she deny her own attachment to Alexander. Meanwhile, Leningrad is under a blockade, winter has arrived, and food supplies are dwindling.

The Bronze Horseman is one of those stories that sucks you in right from page one. I could hardly bear to put it down when my breaks at work were over. It is definitely the fastest 637 pages I’ve ever plowed through!